-2 - June 05, 2014 News Outlook
Heaven Is
A Lot Like
Kentucky
By Charles Mattox
*You are about to emba
upon the Great Crusade, to-
ward which we have striven
these many months. The eyes
of tile world are upon you.
The ies and prayers of
tiberty4ng people eoery-
where march with ymL
In company with our
. ve Allies and brothers-
twarms on other Fronts,
you ul bring about the de-
., structiaa of the German war
', :hi€, the elimination of
; tyranny over the op-
/ ssed eoples of Europe,
trawl sectttity for ourselves in
a free world.
Your task will not be an
By Cecil Lawson
A week ago I wrote
something on the social
media website Facebook
about how my life felt stag-
nant, .that I felt alienated,
and that it was time for
some changes in my life.
When I wrote it, I was
actually in a pretty good
mood, and I was articulat-
ing something that I had
been thinking about for
weeks and weeks prior to
that evening.
I wanted to convey my .
feelings about a: serie of
events in my life that had
been happening up to
that point, without getting
into unnecessary details
or naming names to pro-
tect the accused, so much
of what I had to say was
vague.
I was generally surprised
Your Hometown Newspaper
OPINIONS
A WALK ON THE 8F_.ACH
pate in the D-Day invasion
of Europe; June 6, 1944.
easy one. Your enemy is well
trained, well equipped and
battle hardened. He Will
.tight savagely.
But this is the year 1944!
Much has happened since
the Nazi triumphs of 1940-
41. The United Nations have
infliaed upon the Germans
great defeats, in open battle,
man-to-man. Our air offen-
sive has seriously reduced
their strength in the air and
their capacity to wage war
on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an
overwhelming superiority
in weapons and munitions
of war, and placed at our
disposal great reserves of
trained .fighting men.
The tide has turned/The
free men of the world are
marching together to Vic-
tory!
I have full confutence in
your courage and devotion
to duty and skill in battle.
We will accept nothing less
than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us
beseech the blessing of Al-
mighty God upon this great
and noble undertaking."
President Dwight Eisen-
hower, in his statement to
soldiers about to partici-
by the response from my
friends and acquaintances,
both on Facebook and in
public.
While most people
wished me well in my
changes, some wondered
if I was soon quitting my
job at the newspaper. Oth-
ers wondered if I was pick-
hag up and leaving Bath
County. A few were genu-
inely concerned that I was
going to harm myself.
Even a week later I am
fielding the same ques-
tions about leaving. Ru-
mors and hearsay have
spread far, far beyond the
Internet and out into the
public. They have taken
on a life of their own, far
beyond whatI intended.
Here I am - I'm still in
Moore's Ferry, I'm still
writing for the Outlook,
and I assure you that I'm
in tip top shape - physi-
cally and mentally- as I get
ready to head to Nashville
this coming weekend for
the Tough Mudder obsta-
cle course race.
It amazes me how the
"There are two kinds of
people who are staying on
this beach." those who are
dead and those who are go-
ing to die. Now let's get the
hell out of here!"
Colonel George Taylor,
Commander of the 16th
Infantry Regiment, Omaha
Beach, D-Day. Taylor was
on the second landing
and found the troops from
the first wave of landings
pinned down. Taylor ral-
lied the soldiers and led
the inland attack at Omaha
Beach.
70 years ago Nicholas
County native, Private First
Class Charles Wilson, was
one of the first soldiers
to land on the beaches of
Normandy as part of the
Allied D-Day offensive into
Europe during World War
Two.
This week the 88-year-old
• veteran returns to France
and will take another walk
on Utah Beach, retracing
his steps from seven de-
cades ago that he made
with his fellow soldiers of
battery C, 42nd Field Artil-
lery Regiment, which was
part of the 4th Infantry Di-
vision.
I've had the pleasure of
knowing Mr. W'dson for
a couple of years now and
first wrote of him several
years ago in my column en-
titled, "AN OCCURRENCE
ON THE WAY TO THE
FOURTH AND FINAL OB-
JECTIVE."
It remains among my fa-
vorites and I wrote it after
spending a few hours lis-
tening to Mr. Wilson as he
recalled his service to the
nation.
He was only 18-years-old
when he landed on Utah
Beach.
He turned 19-years-old
on Aug. 25, 1945, the day
the 4th Infantry Division
liberated Paris, France.
Wilson remains young at
heart and his walk, like his
voice, was strong a couple
of weeks ago when he ex-
citedly told me about his
planned return to France
as we chatted in the Nicho-
las County Courthouse.
There aren't many men
like Mr. W'dson; He repre-
sents a generation of Amer-
leans, which I and many
others characterize simply
as "The Greatest Genera-
tion."
They were the selfless
generation who fought sav-
agely to protect freedom
and the lucky ones who
survived, men like Char-
lie W'dson, well they came
back home, healed their
minds, bodies and souls
the best they could and
then made our nation the
strongest it has been since
before or after.
Mr. W'dson had told me
that the thing he recalled
most among all the hor-
rific events he saw and sur-
vived, was the unbelievable
exhaustion he and his fel-
low soldiers endured.
He promised himself
in the frozen hell of the
Hurtgen Forest that if he
survived the war, he would
sleep uninterrupted for a
solid month.
The Battle of Hurtgen
Forest remains the longest
battle the US Military has
ever fought, with the battle
lasting almost 90<lays and
ending Dec. 16, 1944.
A few days later Wilson,
who was nearly killed dur-
THE ,F, PHONE GAME
things we say or write, or
the ways we act, can be-
come so misunderstood.
Psychologists have been
studying these communi-
cations problems for the
past century and a half,
and philosophers many
centuries before them.
We all carrying around
with us biases, assump-
tions, and prejudices,
many of which we aren't
even aware at the time we
listen to others.
We filter every word
and action we encounter
through our minds' amidst
all the clutter that's nor-
mally in there.
We sometimes wind up
hearing what we want to
hear, not what the speaker
actually said.
Other times, we just
don't understand at all.
While those might be
times to speak up and ask
questions to clarify, often
we just take what we are
given, and fill in the blanks
of our understanding with
things we aiadow or
just guess anspeulate.
The Dinner Bell
Cou-nt-ry M a r k e t,L L C
60 different kinds of meats and cheeses
• r
Specials For This Week
• Black Forest Ham $5.19 lb. (Regularly $5.39 lb.)
• American Cheese $4.99 (Regularly $5.29)
• Troyers Smoked Bacon $5.99 a package or 2 for $10.00 or 3 for $4.75
(Regularly $6.89 a package)
• Fresh Strawberries $3.25 a qt.
Sale ends Saturday, June 7th, 2014
,, t
!
00.TParty Meat and Cheese Traj i
Bulk FoodS.
.__.J ) -,I - / Flours • Sugars • Spices
\\; . .Jar Goods .
.Jazm. " Jams Jellies Pickied Veggies
Huge Selection of Snacks & Candies
Huge Selection of
• RADA KNIVES
• ,
,. .... NoWilkifig:S6hjh,S#:0cts .... .
Hanging Baskets of Flowers • Poly Lawn Furniture. Antiques
Later on, we find we got
it wrong.
Part of my job as a jour-
nalist is dealing with ru-
mors. Many times that's
all news tips are - rumors
and hearsay. It's my job to
go to the source and get
straight answers, if I can.
If can't, Iql say so - "More
to follow."
I watched this happen
in public recently when a
disagreement over how a
revised stipend schedule
for teachers and staff in
the Bath County School
District was handled by
school board members
turned, within a few hours,
into a small media circus.
Local TV crews were on
scene, copies of copies of
copies of emails were float-
I 1
hag around, angry crowds
protested when a special
called school board meet-
hag didn't go as expected
and even conspiracy theo-
ries floated around about
school board members
and Supt. Harvey Tackett.
It.got a tittle crazy for
about four days, to put it
mildly.
I considered it my job to
rush headlong at the ru-
mor dragon and slay it with
the Sword of truth.
Maybe it wasn't exactly
that dramatic but I hoped
that my articles at least-
laid out what was at stake
in the original disagree-
ment.
I encounter the same
thing on a regular basis
While reporting on ongo-
I
EARLY D
S LIVES l!
ing the initial stages of the
battle, became the most-
popular man in his unit
when he received a pack-
age from home that was
filled with fried chicken,
which had been sealed,
fresh in a fin!
The happiness was fleet-
hag, however as the cruelty
of war could never be es-
caped for very long.
It was near the end of the
war that W'flson and sev-
eral of the other men in his
unit discovered the horrors
of Dachau Concentration
Camp and the many satel-
IRe camps that surrounded
the main camp, located
about ten miles northwest
of Munich, Germany.
But for Wilson, like many
WW II veterans there ap-
pears to be no need to re-
turn to Germany, there are
few if any 'good" memories
there; but France, well,
that's another story, and
one I hope to hear about
soon from one greatAmeri-
can hero who I hope en-
joyed his walk on the beach
this week.
Against Cancer.
ing school board issues in
Menifee County, but from
a different angle. There is
a distinct lack of informa-
tion, from both a faction of
school board members, as
they politically maneuver
to achieve their unspoken
but otherwise dear agen-
da in the school district,
and from the state, whose
numerous investigative
agencies are very interest-
ed in what is going on but
who are slow to take action
and give reports of their
progress.
In that county I work
with what I have, which
isn't much, 'but I stick to
my guns and report what I
Telephone
cont. on Pg- 3
I I I II I
, ,. FP00:[TAKE-HOME Colon Cancer
Screening Kits available! ! l
f !
', .... ,'Deadline ,to call: 00June 15 2014
" ; ,|
" ,' : Requments t0 reve kit include:
: i' es 50 and over (oNamit/history of colon cancer)
*, &gesi45 aid oer African Americans
DID YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN A
I I • I I II II •
HIGH RtSK COU N W'00FRO !00CO LNO
I Jl I I I II I I
CANCER?
TO SIGN UP
PLEASE CALL
(859) 309.1700 or
toll free 877-597.4655
I I
